Writings Skills Playsheets

Note: These are exercises used in classroom and online courses. See the Abacus-es Classes page. Many contain intentional errors to be fixed. Be sure to look up vocabulary terms as needed.

Adverbs and Adjectives The decomposing turnip and the Unrepentant Recovering Reductionists -- identify the modifiers

Adverbs and Adjectives 2 The lachrymose lamplighter and the erroneously labeled Spam -- Identify the modifiers, fix errors

Like Playsheet Dinner theater and malicious parakeets -- when and when not to use "like"

Grammar Sheet 1 Eructative model volcano, tapioca, and the toad infestation -- mass nouns and count nouns, correct the mistakes

Grammar Sheet 2 Pythons, the wildebeest, and the bicycle seat -- misplaced modifiers and pronoun declension, correct the errors

Who/Whom Test The melting snow diplodocus, concerned miscreants and scoundrels and the history of footwear in Estonia.

Grammar Sheet 3 The musk oxen behind the refrigerator -- correct the errors

Grammar Sheet 4 Custard flood, irresponsible fairies, and excessive frivolity -- misused words

Singular/Plural Sheet 1 Leeches, dental deformities, flamingoes, muses, and an egg whisk -- correct the errors

Singular/Plural Sheet 2 Measles, molasses, and a marshmallow -- correct the errors

Subject/Object Playsheet A greased ferret, a chocolate birdbath, and smoldering bagpipes -- correct the errors

Verb Phrase Playsheet A bewhiskered lagomorph, a 16 foot carnivorous marsupial (they did once exist), and a miniature pikestaff -- create verb phrases

Parallelism Playsheet A saxophone, Roman baldrics, and quoting Spinoza -- fix the unparallel parallel constructions

Lie/Lay Playsheet Etruscan water skis, the infuriated rabbi, and the truculent eschscholtzia -- repair the verb usage

Sentence Building Playsheet Confused ducks, coffee beans, and vaticinal function calls -- combine simple sentences together

Preposition Matching Playsheet Infested Argentine lentils, unsupervised pachyderms, and extraneous folkloric perversions -- choose the correct prepositions

Preposition Matching Playsheet 2 Demeaning comedic caricature, a float, an oratorio, and a very baffled looking diplodocus -- choose the correct prepositions

Verb Tenses and Subjunctive A dyspeptic ruminant, elliptical wheels, The Catatonic Cormorant, and a ruptured wing strut. Correct verb errors.

Verb Phrase Construction2 Mukluks and flammable eructations. Aloysius beats the crotchety rhinoceros about the ears with his shoe. Create perfect, progressive, passive, and future verb phrases.

Subjunctive Playsheet 1 Acrid polyester fumes, a waffle iron, a terrycloth squid, a dyspeptic dimetrodon, and Rupert's fleet in the Adriatic. Subjunctive verb forms.

Subjunctive Playsheet 2 A breakfast to remember, flushing fireworks down the euphemism, and a profound fear of postage stamps. Subjunctive verb forms continued.

Ambiguous and Missing Antecedents Playsheet Monteverdi's Orfeo, a yogurt-encrusted spatula, and a mermaid on a motorcycle. Interpret ambiguous and missing antecedents.

Who/whom Playsheet 3 Musical score to a prenuptial agreement, Ethel, the Exculpated Aardvark and the pastry nativity. Pronoun declension.

Vocabulary Playsheet The rebarbative cadre produces squamous Brobdingnagian papier-mache colossi. Concentrated vocabulary.

Pronoun Reference Playsheet The squid in the vacuum cleaner, Braunschweiger and relativistic confections. Fix pronoun reference errors.